Riots spread through London

Posted: Tuesday, August 09, 2011

By DAVID STRINGER and RAPHAEL G. SATTER

LONDON -- Violence and looting spread to new areas of London on Monday -- and to a second major city -- as shops and cars were set ablaze and authorities struggled to contain the spiraling disorder on a third night of rioting in Britain's capital, which will host next summer's Olympic Games.

The worst unrest in London in decades saw buildings, vehicles and garbage dumps set ablaze, stores burglarized and police officers pelted with bottles and fireworks, as groups of young people rampaged through neighborhoods across the capital.

Fire crews battled to control a raging blaze that swept through a 100-year-old family run furniture store in Croydon, in South London, and forced nearby homes to be evacuated.

In the nation's central city of Birmingham, dozens of people attacked shops in a main retail district -- spreading the chaos beyond London for the first time since violence broke out on Saturday night.

As authorities struggled to keep pace with the unrest, Prime Minister David Cameron cut short his summer vacation in Italy and will convene a meeting of the government's crisis committee today to toughen the response to the escalating violence.

It began late Saturday in London's Northern Tottenham district when a peaceful protest over the police's shooting of a suspect turned violent, leaving parts of the high street charred and its shops looted.

But some have blamed the unrest on unemployment, insensitive policing and frustration across Britain over the government's austerity budget, which will bring deep cuts to social services and welfare payments.

"There is significant disorder breaking out in a number of our communities across London," Tim Godwin, the acting London police commissioner said Monday, acknowledging that the 1,400 officers police deployed across London were struggling to halt the unrest.

Some residents called for police to deploy water canons to disperse rioters, or call on the military for support.

Witnesses in several neighborhoods said police were slow to respond as violence broke out in communities in the east and south of London previously untouched by the chaos, leaving young thugs free to set fires and steal from high street stores.

The small groups of youths -- most with their heads and faces covered -- used SMS messages, instant messaging on BlackBerry cellphones and social media such as Twitter to coordinate their attacks and outwit the police.

Once the preserve of businesspeople, BlackBerry handsets are popular with teenagers, thanks to their free, fast instant messaging system. Blackberry's manufacturer, Research in Motion, said in a statement that they were assisting authorities in their investigation and "feel for those impacted by the riots in London."

Police also were monitoring Twitter, and warned that those who posted messages inciting the violence could face arrest.

In the Peckham district of South London, where a building was set ablaze along with a bus -- which was not carrying passengers -- onlookers said the scene resembled a conflict zone. Cars were torched in nearby Lewisham, and shops looted in South London's Clapham district.

"There's been tension for a long time. The kids aren't happy. They hate the police," said Matthew Yeoland, a 43-year-old teacher watching the unrest in Peckham. "It's like a war zone and the police weren't doing anything. There were too many people and not enough police."

In the Hackney area of East London, hundreds of youths attacked shops and set fire to cars. Hussain Sayem, a 25-year-old retail worker, said he had sympathy for London's stretched police. "How can the police handle it?" he said.

Violence broke out late Saturday in London's Northern Tottenham district when peaceful protest over the fatal police shooting of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four, who was gunned down in disputed circumstances Thursday, turned violent.

Two police cars and a double-decker bus were set ablaze, stores were looted and several buildings along Tottenham's main street -- 5 miles from the site of the 2012 Olympics -- were reduced to smoldering shells.

Duggan's death stirred old animosities despite efforts by London police to build better relations with the city's ethnic communities after high profile cases of racism in recent decades.

Police say Duggan was shot dead when police from Operation Trident -- the unit that investigates gun crime in the black community -- stopped a cab he was riding in.